


Once Upon A Time...

by EbeneezerDark (AmyCat)



Category: White Collar
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-04
Updated: 2011-10-04
Packaged: 2017-10-24 07:49:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyCat/pseuds/EbeneezerDark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers of a sort through the Season 3 break. What have Mozzie and Neal gotten themselves into?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon A Time...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lapislaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapislaz/gifts).



Once, there was a great and priceless Treasure. Though it had not been hoarded by an actual Dragon, yet, in the way of dragon-hoarded loot, it was indeed Cursed. Whether the Curse was a taint from the wicked and hateful souls of those who'd stolen and amassed it, or blood-guilt owed for the fates of their millions of murdered and tormented victims, or even the dying spite of the crew (all lost but one) of the vessel which had carried it *almost* all the way across the wide ocean, none could say. Perhaps (and so I believe) it was all of these ill-wishes together, the combined haunting of so many unrestful spirits who, in life, had all touched those wondrous but perilous riches, however briefly...

The Curse was pernicious and powerful. Even those who'd neither seen nor touched the Hoard could be fouled by its evil. It could enrapture an innocent child and lure her to covetousness through the tales of her old grandfather, or raise an obsession in the heart of a man already long since lost to the corruptions of power and greed. The weak and the flawed, or the strong but corrupt, were easy prey for the Curse. By its influence, a young woman of great beauty but uncertain virtue was ensnared and finally given over to a fiery death, like the prey of the cruel Dragons of legend. Even a good, honest, and loving-hearted man could be moved by the Curse to wrath and suspicion, turning against a friend and comrade with cruel words and unjustified accusations.

The vileness of the Curse could warp a free spirit, a man of intellect and experience (long wary of the machinations of the powerful), clouding his wisdom with recklessness and haste, and corrupting his peace with the will to murder, even if by proxy. And it could turn a good-hearted rogue from the path to reforming his life, and make him lie, manipulate and betray his friends, meet suspicion with suspicion-justifying deceit, and place his partner's works and his colleagues' lives at risk.

After far too many misdeeds, the lovable rogue won free of the Curse only by renouncing the Treasure and parting in sorrow from his oldest friend. The good and honest man nearly lost his beloved wife to the violence of yet another cursed soul, an opportunistic killer lured (like too many others) to commit murder and mayhem to possess the Hoard.

So, in the end, even those few who escaped the Curse with their lives and souls did not pass unscathed. In this tale, with so many victims already beyond saving, there can be no Happily Ever After, even for our heroes...

**Author's Note:**

> This story exists thanks to Lapislaz who, in response to my throw-away comment ("the Treasure really IS cursed, and its curse warps the souls of anyone who has it. No wonder our guys are going Dark-Side on us..."), replied: "Yes, this needs to be written." :-)
> 
> Previously posted to Dreamwidth here:  
> http://ebeneezerdark.dreamwidth.org/605.html?#cutid1  
> LJ and Dreamwidth have "Current Music" tags for posts; for this one, obviously, it's "Das Rheingold".


End file.
